Things seem to be going a lot better for me right now. I have not been feeling bad at all for several days. I am still a little tired, but I guess that goes with not getting enough sleep because I stay up too late and I still got up at 8 am. Besides which I don't really do enough exercise. I went into town this morning for labs again. I hate it when they stick me to get blood! Although it is just one quick poke in the port, it seems to get more painful each time they do it. Since I get that poke each week, I should be getting used to it, but it seems worse each time! Today they asked me if I wanted them to spray me with cold this time. I think next time I will ask them to try that so I would know if it is easier or not. The nurse who poked me said that it would deaden the nerves so that I would feel the poke, but that it would burn later. I guess I will have to try it next time to see if it is any better.
I get to go back in Friday for a CT and at that time I will get poked again. This is something that is required for the study I am on. I guess they will do next week's labs then as well because I am not scheduled to go to the AIU until after I see the doctor next Monday even though that is my first stop before seeing the doctor before treatments usually. It looks like next week, I see the doctor then go to AIU for treatment. Hopefully all is well then!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
4/19/2011 Pain is better, but still there
I started to post this yesterday and then forgot all about it so now I have to start over again. AAARRRGGGHH!!! I went to the doctor yesterday to find out why I had the problem I had last week with having stool coming out through my bladder since I have a colostomy. It turns out that it can be explained by the fact that they made a loop in the stoma so that they can reverse the process if they are ever able to repair the fistula. Apparently sometimes some of the stool can escape from the loop and go through the rest of the colon, but that should not be common. That is a relief to know. I was afraid they might have to cut me again in order for the problem to stop. That is not the case. PHEW!!!
I have the car again, but I still have not gone anywhere during the day yet. I will probably go into town again tomorrow to go shopping because I forgot to get any drinks to help when I have diarrhea (gatorade or similar). I have two weeks to make enough food that I don't have to worry about it during my chemo week. I made a soup/stew yesterday that had chicken, potatoes, carrots, celery, a little cauliflower, some onion and salt. I will probably do another one in the next couple of days only using beef. I like having a slow cooker because, although it takes a long time to cook using it, it sure beats anything I can get out of a can. I just wish I knew more things I could make with it.
My pain is much better than it was last week, but now I am having some tingling in my fingers like what the doctor asked me about last week. I have not really experienced this before so it really bothers me, but it is not totally unexpected. I just wish that the lingering joint pain would go away! That's all for now!
I have the car again, but I still have not gone anywhere during the day yet. I will probably go into town again tomorrow to go shopping because I forgot to get any drinks to help when I have diarrhea (gatorade or similar). I have two weeks to make enough food that I don't have to worry about it during my chemo week. I made a soup/stew yesterday that had chicken, potatoes, carrots, celery, a little cauliflower, some onion and salt. I will probably do another one in the next couple of days only using beef. I like having a slow cooker because, although it takes a long time to cook using it, it sure beats anything I can get out of a can. I just wish I knew more things I could make with it.
My pain is much better than it was last week, but now I am having some tingling in my fingers like what the doctor asked me about last week. I have not really experienced this before so it really bothers me, but it is not totally unexpected. I just wish that the lingering joint pain would go away! That's all for now!
Friday, April 15, 2011
April 15, 2011 Oh the pain!!!
I woke up yesterday with very achy joints. I was not able to do much, so I just sat around surfing the internet. Today was not much better. I hate these days!!! It always happens 2-5 days after treatment. My knees and ankles hurt so bad I want to cry! Nothing I have tried seems to help!
I made a soup with chicken and vegetables and ate on that yesterday and today. It is really hard to get myself to eat right now or even to drink. I'm having my brother bring me more gatorade tonight so that I don't dehydrate too bad since I haven't been eating or drinking properly these last few days. At least I wasn't nauseous. I just haven't been hungry. I guess it doesn't help that I started having problems with the fistula again.
I am trying to keep my spirits up right now, but it is hard when all I want to do is crawl into a hole and curl up! I think I should go to the gym one of these days and see if I can get some kind of exercise in because if I don't I'm going to waste away. Maybe tomorrow because I will have the car back tonight.
I made a soup with chicken and vegetables and ate on that yesterday and today. It is really hard to get myself to eat right now or even to drink. I'm having my brother bring me more gatorade tonight so that I don't dehydrate too bad since I haven't been eating or drinking properly these last few days. At least I wasn't nauseous. I just haven't been hungry. I guess it doesn't help that I started having problems with the fistula again.
I am trying to keep my spirits up right now, but it is hard when all I want to do is crawl into a hole and curl up! I think I should go to the gym one of these days and see if I can get some kind of exercise in because if I don't I'm going to waste away. Maybe tomorrow because I will have the car back tonight.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
April 13, 2011
Today started off a little slow. Although I woke up around 8 am needing to use the bathroom, I went back to sleep until after 1 pm. I didn't feel much like eating or anything else. My joints started hurting today and while I took the anti-nausea medications, I still didn't feel up to doing anything.
I think the worst part of what was going on today was that I started passing feces through my bladder again. I thought the colostomy was supposed to prevent that. I called the on-call gyn/onc to report this problem because it was after hours and I wouldn't be able to talk to my doctor at her clinic. I was told not to worry about it tonight, but that they would try to get it checked out soon.
I walked over to the convenience store and got something to drink, took some anti-nausea medications and some tylenol and I think I'm just going to try to sleep even though I only woke up at 1 and it is only 9:30 now. I feel awful!!! More tomorrow I hope.
I think the worst part of what was going on today was that I started passing feces through my bladder again. I thought the colostomy was supposed to prevent that. I called the on-call gyn/onc to report this problem because it was after hours and I wouldn't be able to talk to my doctor at her clinic. I was told not to worry about it tonight, but that they would try to get it checked out soon.
I walked over to the convenience store and got something to drink, took some anti-nausea medications and some tylenol and I think I'm just going to try to sleep even though I only woke up at 1 and it is only 9:30 now. I feel awful!!! More tomorrow I hope.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
April 12, 2011
I got home last night around 6pm and the lady was cleaning my room because she didn't have time to do it earlier in the day. I had promised her several weeks ago that I would buy dinner or something for her because she had done my laundry for me when I couldn't do any lifting shortly after moving in to the motel. When she finished my room, she ordered pizza and I paid for it and she came down as soon as it got there and we had a fine time. I went ahead and took an anti-nausea pill when I got home because I wasn't sure if I was feeling queezy from not eating or from chemo I had trouble sleeping because I had slept so much during the treatment earlier in the day.
Today I woke up feeling pretty well. I went ahead and took one of the anti-nausea pills as a precaution because I didn't want to start feeling icky and the doctor had suggested taking one every 12 hours for two or three days after treatment. I found there was a lot of hair on my pillow this morning so I guess it is a matter of time before all my hair is out. I already miss my hair!
I went into my classroom to check on the final grade for my class and found out that the paper I had turned in got 100% so I have an A for the class. I am so happy because I was sure that I was going to get a low score on that paper because I didn't put much effort into it at all. In fact, I didn't put nearly enough effort into the whole class because of not feeling well for most of the six week session.
I went outside a couple of times today, mostly to get to the other buildings to get a drink and so I could get laundry money, to get mail from the office and to actually do the laundry. I couldn't believe how nice it was outside today. I wish there was someplace around here I could walk to without having to worry about traffic. Better yet, I wish I had the car with me. I was dropped off yesterday after my treatment because there was no way I could drive myself home. It will probably be a few days before I will have the car again.
I have started wearing a scarf when I go outside now because my hair is starting to thin a lot, especially in the back. I can't see it, but I can tell by the amount of hair on my pillow that it is coming out fast. When I run my hand through it, lots of hair comes out too. That is really scary to me, but not unexpected. It is just a lot sooner than it happened the last time I went through this. That's all for now.
Today I woke up feeling pretty well. I went ahead and took one of the anti-nausea pills as a precaution because I didn't want to start feeling icky and the doctor had suggested taking one every 12 hours for two or three days after treatment. I found there was a lot of hair on my pillow this morning so I guess it is a matter of time before all my hair is out. I already miss my hair!
I went into my classroom to check on the final grade for my class and found out that the paper I had turned in got 100% so I have an A for the class. I am so happy because I was sure that I was going to get a low score on that paper because I didn't put much effort into it at all. In fact, I didn't put nearly enough effort into the whole class because of not feeling well for most of the six week session.
I went outside a couple of times today, mostly to get to the other buildings to get a drink and so I could get laundry money, to get mail from the office and to actually do the laundry. I couldn't believe how nice it was outside today. I wish there was someplace around here I could walk to without having to worry about traffic. Better yet, I wish I had the car with me. I was dropped off yesterday after my treatment because there was no way I could drive myself home. It will probably be a few days before I will have the car again.
I have started wearing a scarf when I go outside now because my hair is starting to thin a lot, especially in the back. I can't see it, but I can tell by the amount of hair on my pillow that it is coming out fast. When I run my hand through it, lots of hair comes out too. That is really scary to me, but not unexpected. It is just a lot sooner than it happened the last time I went through this. That's all for now.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Second Round of Chemo
Here we are, 4/11/2011. I have been shedding for over a week and today I started wearing a scarf to protect my head from sunburn. I still have a lot of hair, but I am told it is starting to thin very badly.
Soon it will all be gone. My phone rang at 7 am because I had asked the front desk to give me a wake up call. I was hesitant to take a shower because the last time I did I lost so much hair and this time wasn't any better.
I got to the cancer center a just before 8 am and checked in. I went up to the AIU and they accessed my port and drew my labs. I then went upstairs to see the doctor. This time she did actually come in and see me. There was nothing exciting that happened there so I won't go into great detail. I was back in the AIU by 10 am. It took a while to get everything together so it was after 11 am before they started the infusion. As soon as they gave me the benedryl, I became extremely sleepy. It was after 1pm before I was able to stay awake long enough to get anything done. Today they did the drugs in a different order, with the Avistan going first, then the Taxol and now (4pm) they just started the carboplatin. She said I should be out of here by 5pm. I hope that I am able to get the medication refill before I leave.
I got the medication refilled (I pushed Bobby [the IV stand] down the hall and got it at the pharmacy. My ride should be here in about 10 minutes and then I don't know if I will go straight home or if we will stop at the grocery store. I won't have the car for a few days so I might need to stock up. I will write more tomorrow.
Soon it will all be gone. My phone rang at 7 am because I had asked the front desk to give me a wake up call. I was hesitant to take a shower because the last time I did I lost so much hair and this time wasn't any better.
I got to the cancer center a just before 8 am and checked in. I went up to the AIU and they accessed my port and drew my labs. I then went upstairs to see the doctor. This time she did actually come in and see me. There was nothing exciting that happened there so I won't go into great detail. I was back in the AIU by 10 am. It took a while to get everything together so it was after 11 am before they started the infusion. As soon as they gave me the benedryl, I became extremely sleepy. It was after 1pm before I was able to stay awake long enough to get anything done. Today they did the drugs in a different order, with the Avistan going first, then the Taxol and now (4pm) they just started the carboplatin. She said I should be out of here by 5pm. I hope that I am able to get the medication refill before I leave.
I got the medication refilled (I pushed Bobby [the IV stand] down the hall and got it at the pharmacy. My ride should be here in about 10 minutes and then I don't know if I will go straight home or if we will stop at the grocery store. I won't have the car for a few days so I might need to stock up. I will write more tomorrow.
First Round of Chem
March 21, 2011. That was the beginning of my chemo life this time. I went to the clinic about 8 in the morning and they accessed my port so they could draw the labs. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I had a port put in while I was in the hospital because I have very hard to find veins right now. With a port, they don't have to look for a vein and it is a lot more convenient all the way around. After they drew the labs, I went up to see the doctor. That was somewhat uneventful. I was out of there and back downstairs before the time I was scheduled to see the doctor at all.
I went back down to the AIU (Ambulatory Infusion Unit) and waited for them to get the drugs together to get me started. After they gave me the benedryl, I became very sleepy so, although I had my laptop with me, a lot of the time I was too tired to do anything on it. They had me on three chemotherapy drugs: Carboplatin, Taxol (same as last time) and Avistan (new this time). The Taxol took 3 hours to drip and the Avistan took about an hour and the Carboplatin took about half an hour. Altogether, I was at the cancer center from 9 am to almost 6 pm. That's like a full-time job!
Because I got done so late, the pharmacy was already closed so I wasn't able to get the nausea medications before I left. That was a problem over the next two days because I did become nauseous until I got the medications. As soon as I got them, I took some of each, but it took most of a day to stop the nausea. The best thing to do, I find, is to take the medications BEFORE the nausea begins. In fact, the doctor told me today to take the one pill every 12 hours starting tomorrow and take the others as needed.
About half way through the cycle (middle of week 2) I started having fevers. I hadn't been feeling well and decided to take my temperature and it was 101! I was told to call in if it ever got above 100.4 so I made a call. All they could suggest was to take tylenol and drink gatorade. By doing that the fever went down, but by the next morning it was back up again. I went for labs in week 3 and they checked and found that I had a UTI. I was put on antibiotics and I am almost finished with those. Since I started on those, I haven't had a fever once.
I purchased a car last Sunday (4/3) and spent Monday getting labs done then I tried to get the car inspected on Tuesday so I could get it registered; but it didn't pass. The shop said it would cost over $200 to fix, but the guy I bought it from did the job for $30 plus the part. I was able to get that done last Friday and I took care of all the paperwork so now my car is totally legal! That's all for this post!
I went back down to the AIU (Ambulatory Infusion Unit) and waited for them to get the drugs together to get me started. After they gave me the benedryl, I became very sleepy so, although I had my laptop with me, a lot of the time I was too tired to do anything on it. They had me on three chemotherapy drugs: Carboplatin, Taxol (same as last time) and Avistan (new this time). The Taxol took 3 hours to drip and the Avistan took about an hour and the Carboplatin took about half an hour. Altogether, I was at the cancer center from 9 am to almost 6 pm. That's like a full-time job!
Because I got done so late, the pharmacy was already closed so I wasn't able to get the nausea medications before I left. That was a problem over the next two days because I did become nauseous until I got the medications. As soon as I got them, I took some of each, but it took most of a day to stop the nausea. The best thing to do, I find, is to take the medications BEFORE the nausea begins. In fact, the doctor told me today to take the one pill every 12 hours starting tomorrow and take the others as needed.
About half way through the cycle (middle of week 2) I started having fevers. I hadn't been feeling well and decided to take my temperature and it was 101! I was told to call in if it ever got above 100.4 so I made a call. All they could suggest was to take tylenol and drink gatorade. By doing that the fever went down, but by the next morning it was back up again. I went for labs in week 3 and they checked and found that I had a UTI. I was put on antibiotics and I am almost finished with those. Since I started on those, I haven't had a fever once.
I purchased a car last Sunday (4/3) and spent Monday getting labs done then I tried to get the car inspected on Tuesday so I could get it registered; but it didn't pass. The shop said it would cost over $200 to fix, but the guy I bought it from did the job for $30 plus the part. I was able to get that done last Friday and I took care of all the paperwork so now my car is totally legal! That's all for this post!
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